The present invention generally relates to video signal recording and/or reproducing systems, and more particularly to a video signal recording and/or reproducing system in which only a video signal period within an analog composite video signal other than a synchronizing signal is sampled at a sampling frequency, to obtain a digital video signal, and this digital video signal is recorded to and reproduced from a recording medium, so that the memory capacity of a memory circuit used in a recording system and a reproducing system can be small.
Conventionally, as a system for recording and reproducing an analog composite video signal, especially an analog composite video signal indicating a still picture, there was a system in which the time base of the analog composite video signal is varied and converted into a low frequency band before recording the analog composite video signal onto a recording medium. In this system, the reproduced signal is stored in a memory circuit, and the signal is converted into the original frequency band by controlling the speed at which the signal is readout from the memory circuit. The original analog composite video signal accordingly obtained, is reproduced by a television receiver.
However, in the above conventional system, the composite video signal is recorded to and reproduced from the recording medium in the analog signal state. Accordingly, there was a disadvantage in that slight degradation was introduced in the quality of the reproduced analog composite video signal, according to the characteristics of the recording and reproducing system and the memory circuit. Generally, in a case where the contents of the video signal is a still picture, noise is more easily noticed in the reproduced picture as compared to the case where the contents of the video signal is a moving picture. Therefore, especially when the video contents of the analog composite video signal which is recorded and reproduced is a still picture, there was a disadvantage in that even the above described slight degradation in the quality of the reproduced video signal is easily noticed in the reproduced picture.